The French Mistress: Helena Frith Powell: Safer...for farmers

Safer, the French agricultural workers body, has the right to buy property for its members, as one British family found the hard way when they lost their house

There is an organisation that anybody buying a place in rural France should know about: the Société d’Aménagement Foncier et d’Etablissement Rural, or Safer. If you are interested in farming, it is here to help: from animal husbandry to gîtes, Safer assists those trying to set up a rural business to find the right property. With pre-emption rights on large sectors of the French countryside, Safer can stop a sale and buy the property for its members at the offered price.

Harriet and Lance Kenny had never heard of Safer until they tried to buy a house in southwest France. They went through the French conveyancing motions in the normal way for their £295,000 farmhouse. The notaire, or notary public, wrote to Safer to advise them of the sale, but when he didn’t hear back from them within the statutory two-month notice period, the Kennys completed their purchase.